Whenever we go back to Utah it always takes us a few days to remember where we are, and that both temples and Mormons are a dime a dozen. Did you know that a Mormon can spot another Mormon? We don't have horns, regardless of what you may have heard, but there are some telltale signs. We even watch reality TV, and pick out the contestants that we think are Mormon. We are usually right.
Here in Wisconsin, we rarely see a Mormon that we do not know. Our ward consists of every Mormon we can scrape up in the entire county, so unless we travel at least an hour away, it is unlikely to find an unknown Mormon. We saw some once at Ikea. That was exciting. I felt like the crocodile hunter. So everytime we are in Utah we spend the first few days playing the "Oh My Heck, I think that's a Mormon" game. Then we laugh at ourselves and remember that we are in Mormonville.
It is also funny to see an LDS church on every corner, bursting with church goers. And there are some places in the Salt Lake Valley where you can see 5 temples at one time. It is so fun to show our kids that there are others like us out there, horns or not.
So when in Utah, it is mandatory to go walk around the grounds of a temple or two.
As you already know, we went to the Mount Timpanogas temple, and of course we took the kids down to temple square. We love temple square.
It's hard to get a picture of your kids in front of the temple when your their hair is blowing in their face.
Or the water is so tempting that the little one can't resist splashing.
And neither can the big kids.
And your son keeps running out of the frame.
Or howling at the moon? Oh well.
Cute Chloe!
Walking with her new best pal, Aunt Kelly. Do you love Chloe's hair? I LOVE it. I call her Gene Wilder. I wish her hair could always look just like that.
In the assembly hall.
Kelly and Lyssa
Seth actually took the camera for a minute. I always pretend that I want to be in the pictures sometimes too, but then when I see the pictures I change my mind. Oh well, I like this picture, even with my windblown hair and sun squint eyes because...how cute are those two munchkins leaning on me? I have had an amazing year spending my days with these two. Looking at this picture and knowing that next year I have to send two of my kids to school everyday just tugs at my heart.
Almost the same picture again, only with my other cute baby and my cute sister, Kelly.
Yay! I love to see the temple, and Salt Lake Temple is my favorite. Shhh, don't tell San Diego. It was a lovely place to get married, but there is just something about Salt Lake.
9 comments:
Even though we lived in Utah our whole lives, it is so new and different to go back now. Its crazy to see the 5 temples in one place and churches on every corner and realize how much you took that for granted. It was never crazy until now! But I think I notice now more than before all the people who ARENT Mormons in Utah. We have learned a new appriciation for those people here in Wisconsin and love them equally. When In Utah, it was more like I was a bit predjudice because thats all I knew. I wondered what was wrong with everyone else. My family was mormon, my friends were mormon (mostly). Now that I have so many experiences with people of so many different faiths and cultures, I just love everyone more! I guess thats a blessing you return missionaries gain. Its so great to get to know everyone and know there is nothing wrong with you if you arent a mormon! We just need to introduce it to them...somehow, becuase we love them! (: Know what I mean? I hope so.
Heather, Thanks for sharing your thoughts and being so honest. Since I am not from Utah, I was always so bugged by "Utah Mormons", but I have learned that we all have our prejudices based on where we have lived and what we have experienced. We can only understand the world according to the vantage point from which we have experienced it. That is why I think it is good to live different places and meet different kinds of people. I LOVE Utah though, don't get me wrong. I just wish there wasn't such an obvious chasm between the Mormon and non-Mormon population there. It makes me sad, and I think the judgement and unkindness are equally bad on both sides. Unkindness over religion just makes no sense. I often wonder how Heavenly Father feels about people quarreling in his name. Sad.
As for the learning to love people on a mission thought....when I was on my mission it was so easy. Missionaries really are blessed to be able to see others as children of God. Now I sometimes find myself disgusted by people's behavior and choices and have to remind myself of how I would have viewed them on my mission and how important they would have been to me. I really try not to judge, but it is not as easy once you turn in that black nametag.
Your pictures always look so dang cute. Do you have one of those extra nice ones? Corey tried to get me to buy one but I have a hard time spending that much money on a camera. I told him tax time would be more appropriate. So what do we do? Turn around and buy a new table. Although we desperately needed a table with six chairs. Corey and I were tired of eating dinner on the couch.
I love reading your blogs. Glad you are back so I can have something to read. I am hoping to fly out to Utah in September to see my family. I am excited, it has been awhile since we have been back.
How far are you guys from Palmyra? We are going to the pageant July 15-17 and I couldn't remember if it was close to you guys or not.
Kory, my poor camera is not expensive, and it is on it's last legs. I am getting blurry pictures a lot lately. I am trying to decide if I want to splurge for a good one or just get another one that is "good enough". Everyone I know is getting the pricey digital SLR cameras but my photographers friends tell me that that is a waste of money unless you are going to learn to use it properly and not just keep it on point and shoot. I am not too good at anything artsy so I should probably stick with my cheapo camera. I am jealous of the new table though. I really want a new table, although ours is big enough to all sit at so I shouldn't complain. I am excited you can all sit together now....family dinner is the best part of the day.
Oh, and unfortunately we are nowhere near Palmyra. It is about 9 hours from here. We are closer to Nauvoo. Have you been to Palmyra before? It is so awesome. The only problem with going during pageant is that you get herded through the tours with the masses, and they cut a lot of the details out. I like it much better when it is quieter and you have time to really look around. We are going to Nauvoo pageant after Alyssa's baptism next month and I honestly don't like pageants very much and would rather go there when it is quieter too, but Seth went last year and said Nauvoo pageant is really cool.
You look beautiful Julie! And I love CHloe's skirt.
I must have been naive or maybe it was because I experienced both the non mormon and mormon utah lifestyle but I never really noticed the difference that much. My best friend isn't mormon and neither are Doug's so we really didn't hang out with only mormons in utah.
I love Utah. I never realized that until we moved away. WE are here now and I just feel peaceful. I love seeing so many temples at once and the other day I was reading books in a little nook in Deseret book with the girls and couldn't believe I was feeling the spirit in a STORE of all places.
I feel safer here. I love it so much!
I love the SAlt lake temple too. WE did get married there so that is part of it but I just love Temple square. We had a really amazing experience there last Thursday. I'll write about it on my blog when we get home.
Cheryl, I was worried about you. You are not usually so quiet in the blogging world. I almost e-mailed you this morning to see if you were okay. I am happy to hear that you are well, and off playing in Utah. I feel safe and at peace there too. I can't describe what I feel when I am in Salt Lake but it is unique to anything I have felt anywhere else. Such a beautiful place. I hung out with Mormon and non-Mormon people in Utah too and I think that is why I noticed the war. I heard really ignorant and judgemental comments, from both sides. But to be fair, some of the best people (of varying religions) I have ever met are from there too, so you can't generalize too much. I can't wait to hear about your travels. When do you come home?
We'll be back Wednesday.
We've been out here since Memorial DAy. I was wondering what people were thinking.:)
I missed this post entirely I guess. I couldn't figure out why the food post was #4 and then I scrolled down and saw this. Those are good pics of you guys. Chloe looks so big, she is definitely bigger than Luke.
How funny, we were just talking today about how you can spot Mormons by looking at them. I don't think I can though.
Alright I've got a funny story for you! Brian just had a very interesting experience a couple days ago. This patient comes in for a visit. She was having a lot of pain in one of her toes. The lady is 86 years old. (backing up a little). When Brian has patients come in he usually takes a few minutes and visits with them. He said that this lady was the sweetest, kindest lady ever. He just knew she was a Mormon by the way she presented herself. We don't have a huge population of Mormons in our part of Utah like the rest of the state so when you meet,or see one they usually stand out a little. So Brian figured he had this lady figured out. That is until she said, " Doc. I think I may have broke the little "Fr".Yes, she dropped the F bomb on him. Brian was shocked and speechless. He said the lady had to have known he was shocked because he couldn't really regain his train of thought.
Anyways, I about died laughing when he shared his story with me. He thought for sure she was Mormon!
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